~The team improved to 2-2 during conference play
The Southeast Missouri State University volleyball team was looking to get back on track in Ohio Valley Conference play against Jacksonville State on Saturday afternoon.
It did that by improving to .500, both overall (9-9) and in the Ohio Valley Conference (2-2). The Redhawks dominated to win in straight sets 25-15, 25-17 and 25-15.
The Redhawks improved to 7-0 on the year when taking the first set. They led 15-14 in the opening set before scoring eight consecutive points to take control.
Jacksonville State headed into the match with an undefeated record in the OVC at 3-0 with wins over Austin Peay, Murray State and Tennessee Tech in three straight sets. With the win, Southeast moved to third place in the division behind Eastern Illinois and Austin Peay, which both have 3-1 records.
"This was a very important win for us," Southeast coach Julie Yankus said.
Senior outside hitter Coleen Yarber led the Redhawks with 14 kills against Jacksonville State. Emily Coon had 10 kills and three blocks.
Freshman Madalyn Werths received her first career start and recorded six kills.
"I am very impressed with Maddie coming in on the right side for us today," Yankus said in a release. "We knew we needed to change something with our offense on the right side, and Maddie did a great job coming and swinging. Colleen did a great job for us as usual putting the ball away and hit a great percentage. Colleen and Andrea [Baylin] also did a good job for us digging down the line and stopping them from scoring. They had a lot of quality digs for us."
Yarber leads the team with 214 kills and is second on the team with 221 digs.
Southeast lost its previous two matches on the road against SIUE and Tennessee Martin entering Saturday's game.
"We struggled our last two matches, being at home against a good Jacksonville State, this was very important for our confidence and to dig ourselves out of a hole we created," Yankus said.
The Redhawks were picked to finish atop the West Division in the Ohio Valley Conference preseason polls.
"We had high expectations this season," Yankus said. "We need to take that aside and get it done on the court."
The Redhawks improved to 3-1 at home this season. They are 1-5 on the road and 5-3 in neutral site games.
"We love playing at home, they gave us a lot of energy," Yankus said of the home crowd.
Southeast's tough non-conference schedule featured teams like Mississippi State, Missouri and nationally-ranked Ohio State.
"We learned a lot from some of those tough non-conference matches we had and it helps us prepare for better teams," Yankus said.
The Redhawks return to action on Friday night when they travel to Austin Peay for an important OVC matchup. They will close out a two-game road trip at Murray State on Saturday.
